Ezra 6:1-5

TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT

D. The Temple is completed and dedicated.

TEXT, Ezra 6:1-5

1. The Royal Edict authorizing construction is found.

1

Then King Darius issued a decree, and search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon.

2

And in Ecbatana in the fortress,-' which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found and there was written in it as follows: Memorandum

3

In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: -Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits;

4

with three layers of huge stones, and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.

5

-And also let the gold and silver utensils of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.-'

COMMENT

Ezra 6:1 speaks of Darius-' directing the search for the document in question at the government library in Babylon, as requested in Ezra 5:17. It was not an unusual place to look for Persian records; here the Cylinder of Cyrus was found by recent archeologists. Nevertheless, their search was unproductive.

The fact that the archives were kept in the treasury building is characteristic of the times; the temples themselves often served the functions of our libraries in preserving ancient volumes, of our county courthouses in storing legal documents, and also of our banks in guarding the government funds and in making loans to the needy.

Ezra 6:2 gives the location where the document was found: at Ecbatana (Achmetha). Cyrus had divided his time each year between three capitals, the one in Media being located in Ecbatana, the one in Persia at Susa, and one in the city of Babylon.

What follows in Ezra 6:3-5 is either an extract or the full official written version of Cyrus-' original order. Ezra 1:2-4 probably gives the oral version which was announced in Babylonian cities where the Hebrew captives lived.

Ezra 6:3 gives the proposed dimensions of the reconstructed temple; it would have been twice as high, and three times as wide as Solomon's original (1 Kings 6:2). Since this is much larger than what was actually constructed, these figures must have been intended as maximums. Its size would have been most imposing: 90 ft. high, and 90 ft. wide; the length is not stated, but would presumably be double the width. The length of the former building would have become the width of the new.

Ezra 6:4 duplicates the details of construction of the original edifice given in 1 Kings 6:36. Work was to be financed from Persian government funds: this detail apparently was never carried out.

Ezra 6:5 relates the order for the restitution of the temple furnishings, which the first returning captives brought with them (Ezra 1:7-11). Darius would honor this decree of Cyrus, for reasons explained in Esther 1:19.

WORD STUDIES

DARIUS: Preserver, conservator. His name very aptly describes the character of his reign. Cyrus had brought the nation to greatness, and Darius preserved and extended that which Cyrus had begun.
BURNT OFFERING: that which ascends. (The base of this word appears in the second component of the name of the Israeli airline, EL AL.) Two ideas may be present: (1) the total offering ascended in smoke to God, or (2) the priest ascended to the altar with the offering.

PASSOVER: (Pasach: the word, Paschal, comes from this.) To leap over, or pass over (a stream, for example). When God passed over the doors of the Israelites, they were spared, or delivered (Exodus 12:13; Exodus 12:27). Therefore the word almost always refers to this sparing or deliverance.

UNLEAVENED: (The word, matzoth, comes from this): the word imitates the sound of sucking something out with relish: hence, something sweet, i.e., unleavened or unfermented.